Tacos Junior: Looks like we’ve got an extra-hot summer upon us. Pop-sicles, ice cream sandwiches, and lemonade-to-go are the order of the day. But every now and then, you want a punch with your hot-weather snack. So roll down the windows, turn up the music and cruise down to Tacos Junior for a cup of mango spears squirted with lemon and dusted with chili powder. Eat this messy, sweet-spicy-hot-cool treat with a fork. Not only addictive, it’s way healthy to boot: Mangos are a great source of vitamins, fiber and potassium.|1280 S. Sheridan Blvd., 303-922-6494 | Tucker Shaw
New Coleman hot dogs: Just in time for the Fourth, Coleman Beef has come out with all-natural beef dogs and chicken-pork-beef franks with no nitrates, nitrites, preservatives or trans fat. Our panel of child tasters rated the old formula at the bottom of the list, but the new dogs pleased young and old palates, and the health-conscious. | King Soopers and Wild Oats | Kristen Browning-Blas
Hamilton Beach drink mixer: Relive a Norman Rockwell moment, one of those little experiences that linger lovingly – such as the thick, creamy milkshake made with a Hamilton Beach drink mixer. A replica of the old-fashioned mixer is back, on sale for $17.88 until June 26, in the kitchen appliance section at Target. After that it goes back to $29.99. The cup is not as large as the original, but never mind. Just assemble ice cream, milk and a few strawberries, and with a whir and a stir you’ve got a cold drink just like the one you used to get at the corner drug store. | Target | Ellen Sweets
Wine
Chateau Bela 2003 Sturovo Riesling, about $15
Want a bargain? Look where few others look. Try Slovakia, for instance. A few hundred miles to the west down the Danube, Austrian wine producers turn out exceptional dry rieslings, so why not here, where vines have flourished since Roman times?
The vineyards tempted Egon Muller of Germany’s famed Muller-Catoir estate to buy Chateau Bela a few years back; this third vintage shows that he was on to something.
Bone-dry, mineral-laden and full of mouthwatering lime flavor, it’s perfect warm-weather drinking – and it’s a steal at $15.
Don’t tell anyone, though: If others find out about Slovakian riesling, it might start driving prices up. |Imported by Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York|Tara Q. Thomas
Beer
Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub, $7.99 a six-pack
Don’t fear the can.
Oskar Blues Brewery and Pub in Lyons, north of Boulder, was among the first microbrewers to put its beers in cans.
Everyone laughed, but the last laugh goes to Oskar Blues, which is now the nation’s largest-producing brewpub, according to the beer-industry publication The New Brewer, thanks to sales of its Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub, both canned.
The brewery produced 5,000 barrels in 2005, a jump of 92 percent over the previous year. The other reason for the success: The beers are top-notch. Old Chub is a hearty Scottish-style ale (8 percent alcohol, by volume) while Dale’s Pale Ale is a lighter, milder, somewhat hoppy effort.
Both Old Chub and Dale’s are available in 13 states in 12-ounce cans.|Oskar Blues Brewery, 303 Main St., Lyons, 303-823-6685; oskarblues.com| Dick Kreck
